Sierra has been a company of ups and downs over the years. Known for its "Quest" series of games, it was one of the best-loved PC developers in the 80's. Their reputation started to take a tumble in the 90's, with mediocre titles such as Phantasmagoria, Outpost and Police Quest: SWAT being some of the company's major releases - Sierra was no longer a sure shot... and if its reorganization is any indication, it wasn't nearly as successful as it once was. Recently however, games like Half-Life, Starsiege Tribes, Gabriel Knight 3 and Homeworld have been released to critical acclaim and perhaps proving the company has turned itself around. SWAT 3 is another quality title to add to this list of new Sierra games that make the grade and then some.  

Since it became the SWAT series, Police Quest has been a mishmash of genres. SWAT 3 is a first-person shooter, while 2 was a real-time strategy game and the first title was a FMV festival. The previous game's foray into the world of real-time strategy was mediocre at best, so to succeed in the equally crowded FPS market would require something special, which is exactly what has been delivered. 

If you're the type of gamer who thinks first-person shooters are all about speed and twitch reflexes, played online to rack up frags galore and nothing will change your mind, stop now. First, while Sierra has announced patches and add-ons to be released later this year to fix the problem, SWAT 3 currently is for one player only. Second, SWAT 3 is a more cerebral experience than most. Feel free to wade into every hostile situation with guns blazing - that is, if you're not concerned about getting mowed down by a few well-placed gunshots.

SWAT is all about realism. It only takes a few hits before you die – and no, there are no armor and health power ups lying about on the ground.  You get shot, you bleed, and if you get shot enough, you die. It's as simple as that. To succeed in SWAT, you need to follow proper protocol at least some of the time. You're teamed up with four other SWAT officers you can order around. Most of the time, you'll need to use them. These AI-controlled officers can truly be lifesavers. Your squad (or element, in SWAT terminology) will often cover your back effectively, or at least spot threats you may not have noticed. SWAT 3 is not about being the lone hero, and if you play it that way, you're just making it extra hard on yourself. The AI is truly exceptional and reliable, but not surprisingly, it isn't perfect. Occasionally, computer controlled officers will walk, one by one, in front of a doorway a gunman has his sights trained on. These ducks in a row are downed in a clockwork fashion. Luckily, such incidents are not the norm.

The missions you'll face fit in with a back-story, which, to tell the truth, isn't all that interesting. Taking place in 2005, the game focuses on the week before the signing of a nuclear abolishment treaty.  You're just as well to ignore the back-story and focus on the missions themselves - they're interesting enough on their own. Ranging from hostage rescues to simple takedowns, the missions are very well crafted.  The environments are very realistic, with a lot of small details included. The baddies are an entertaining mix, ranging from highly trained terrorists to otherwise regular people who seem confused or misguided. Their placement within the missions and their attitudes vary each time you run the mission, meaning that just because a group of hostage-takers was fairly passive last time you played a mission, there's no guaranteeing they won't be hyper-aggressive the next time you try.

The ultimate goal for a SWAT team is to enter a situation, and neutralize a dangerous situation, doing whatever possible to minimize violent conflict. This means you're expected to default to demands that a hostile target submits before opening fire and taking off his or her kneecaps. Sometimes, this is an effective strategy; particularly if a suspect encounters five SWAT officers with their weapons all pointed his way. In extreme situations, though, going into a room with armed suspects and following this strategy could lead to a painful introduction of hot lead to flesh. To this end, your team has a variety of tools to help disorient or disable suspects without actually resorting to gunfire. Flash explosives can be used to startle suspects and give your team the benefit of confused targets. Tear gas can also be deployed to temporarily disable them. If you're still not comfortable with the risk, you can be a bit dangerous and shoot at suspects through the walls. With the right type of weapon and ammunition (and there are a wide variety), you can shoot at suspects through non-reinforced walls - a really exciting touch that adds even more realism to the game.  In these situations, however, you should at least have an idea of what's in the room, lest you kill a hostage and fail your mission.

SWAT has excellent graphics that are somewhat reminiscent of those in Half-Life, although the game uses an engine that was built from scratch. The detailed environments look great, and the look of the game also benefits from solid lighting effects and other neat effects such as muzzle flash coming from automatic weapons. But the environments are what will impress most gamers - everything just seems right. And while shortcuts have surely been taken, nothing seems to be missing from the homes, businesses and other locations you attend over the course of the game. The graphics run at a decent clip - the game should run nicely on a fairly modern system (300 MHz processor, TNT2/Voodoo3 level accelerator).

Sound effects are generally very good. The voices are clear and there are a great variety of phrases suspects and hostages say.  You'll be abused by fundamentalists and told you're too rough by almost everybody.  Some suspects will, of course, proclaim innocence. Some hostages will even go so far tell you they're army veterans and you should give them a gun so they can help you.  The sounds made by your equipment all sound nice and clear, and the underlying music is unobtrusive but effective enough to add a sense of urgency to the situations.  Occasionally, sounds started to break up, however, and if you're doing too many things at once, voices will often cue up and continue long after you're done talking.  Occasionally, your voice will even interrupt incoming messages about hostage debriefings and so on.

Controls are fully customizable and responsive. All you need to do is modify your basic preferred first-person shooter controls for a few commands and you're set. A nice addition to typical FPS controls are "lean" buttons, which allow you to lean left or right to peek through a doorway, exposing less body for perpetrators to shoot at. About the only complaint is a slight delay in switching weapons or equipment - but this is just another imitation of the real world - like in real life, such switches are not instantaneous.

Overall, SWAT 3 is an excellent, albeit underrated game, and probably one of the best first-person shooters around, period. The nature of the missions makes them interesting time and time again, and the overall presentation is very slick and attractive. If SWAT 3 is any indication, Sierra is back with a vengeance.